The Historic District

That style metal roofing was probably put on in the 50/60's using galvanized spiral nails with lead washers. The problem with all metal roofs is the expansion and contraction, which eventually causes the fasteners to loosen. Your roof looks like a corrugated metal style, which has exposed fasteners ...

Yep, I used a bread knife to cut fiberglass or mineral wool. I find mineral wool to be very dusty. I wear a mask with either one of them.

Thanks shazapple. Would house wrap be a better solution since it allows vapor through? Depends on what is typically used in your area. Housewrap would air seal for sure. I'm a bit more north than you and poly is almost always used. It may not be a bad idea to buy a nice mask (silicone with the repl...

yes, the poly would help air seal, as long as the edges are sealed to something and the overlap taped. Usually you don't want much insulation on the warm side of the vapour barrier, but in this case I doubt the vermiculite is contributing too much to the R- value (rule of thumb is no more than 1/3 o...

Take a good look at the sills and headers, as they are your best indicator for structural issues. For the sill watch for where the grade is higher, or where there's a non-permeable surface (concrete, asphalt, etc), or along the drip edge of the roof.

I saw the thread on antique radios and that reminded me of our 'new' fridge. I believe it is a 1930's Kelvinator. We fished it out of the old barn and gave it an overhaul: New gaskets, new insulation (the old stuff was corrugated wax paper), new paint, and (thanks to my wifes father) a new compresso...

The roof is definitely not salvageable due to the nail holes from the asphalt shingles, and the old roof probably leaked (hence why they covered it). A new roof would be more expensive than usual as they have to remove both layers (extra labour and dumping fees) and probably cover the original decki...

Two years into owning Gothichome we buried the electrical service and upgraded to 200 amp. If I recall about five grand all in. It was money well spent. Two interesting things though the service provider had to disconnect at the pole and remove from the pole, the electrical contractor did the work ...

We buried our power and internet. We dug the trench ourselves with an excavator (about 3 feet deep, 110 feet long) and paid an electrician to run the pipe, pull the wires, and coordinate with the utility for hookup. We had to get a new pole as well, so it cost a couple thousand overall. The biggest ...

I would refer to those as roof rafters, not trusses. Trusses use smaller wood and engineered designs to carry the load where rafters are typically a single piece of wood. The allowable span depends on how far they are spaced apart, the size of the wood, and the snow load (if any) in your area. Most ...